Not Another Day
by Gohan'slittlebro47
Summary: Sophie learned from seven that she could do things out of the ordinary, but she doesn't understand them. When a visit to her sister goes awry, she begins to find her fortune.
1. Another Day

HI! I was looking around Fanfiction, and I saw Howl's Moving Castle. As soon as I saw that, an idea for a fic popped up, and here it is!

**_Chapter 1: Another Day_**

Sophie sighed. She put away the last hat she had been working on, and didn't even bother to compliment it. Fanny had old her that it was very important to talk to her work, and compliment it, ever since she had been little.

Sophie knew that Fanny was taking advantage of her powers, or whatever they were, but what could she do? Her father's dying wish had been for Sophie to keep her happy, and to do as she said, so what could she really do? Nothing as far as she saw.

Sophie had figured out by the time she was seven that she was special. She told a dying bird, after bringing it to a doctor who only shook his head and said sorry, that it would live, and the next day it flew out her window, trilling joyfully. There were many other times to, but that was the first time she felt that she did it.

She didn't no what it was, but, from the wonderful soaring feeling she got in her heart, what she did know was it was good. That is, was good. She hadn't been able to do anything except compliment hats since her father died.

Wiping off the desk after she cleared it of the jumbled flowers and threads, she walked slowly to her bed.

Just before she fell asleep, a single tear rolled down her cheek, and she silently thought, _I hope your happy father. I really do._

"SOPHIE! SOPHIE!"

"COMING MOTHER!" Sophie heaved herself out of bed and slipped into a clean shift. After tugging on the standard gray dress of her mother's shop, she walked to her desk, grabbed the hats she finished the other night, and began awkwardly carrying them down the stairs.

Setting down her load on the display table, she walked to the table and ate her breakfast quickly. Finally, she washed her dishes, and shuffled to stand, head down, in front of her mother.

"Yes? Do you need me to buy something?"

"Actually, I came to tell you I'm taking the day off. I don't think you want to take care of this place all by yourself, so I'm shutting the shop down for today! You can go off and have fun, and do whatever it is you children do! Isn't that wonderful?" Fanny smiled at her expectantly.

Quickly faking a grin of joy, she replied, "Oh thank you so much! I really needed a day off!"

Fanny hugged her quickly, said good-bye, and left the house, going into the small horse-drawn carriage waiting for her at the end of the drive, and waved as she left sight.

Sophie stared a little longer at where Fanny had last been, and heaved a deep sigh of disappointment. It had to be today. Festival day. The day where everybody partied and danced, and men leered at the crowds, looking for girls to accost, and girls walked seductively past the men, asking to be accosted.

A day of romance, a day of merrymaking, and a bad day for Sophie.

Sophie didn't see herself as beautiful. She didn't see herself as pretty. She based herself off her two younger sisters, and in her mind, she didn't compare. Where her sisters' hair was dark gold and lustrous chestnut, hers was drab ordinary brown. Where her sisters' eyes were youthful and twinkling bright green, hers were lifeless green that looked to be the result of a sick child. Where her sisters' skin was darkly tanned and flawless, hers was pale white, and hurt the eye. All in all, she deluded herself.

She looked longingly at the work-booth in the house, but shook her head and locked up the doors. She had promised to see Lettie at Mrs. Fairfax's (for she knew the truth about which sister was working at which place, and they had swapped places) and she new that today was the perfect day for it. Lettie would certainly have this day off, and be free to spend time with her sister.

She began trudging over the ridge behind her house, and hit the road leading to Upper Folding, basking in the sunlight, forgetting her unhappiness and simply enjoying the good things in life.

**Okay, really short chapter, I know. This was just a starter. Most of it is going to be based off the book, not the movie (I always like the books better than the movies).**

**I'll try to get out more soon. Please tell me what you thought. I really need someone to give me some feedback, and I know there are some good writers out there who can give me tips.**

**Well, toodles, love ya, till I see you the next!**


	2. Not Another Day

**Thanks to Lina for being my first reviewer, Moondrop32751 and KalanSlytherin for putting me on the fave list, and to Carowyn for putting me on her alert list.**

**Here's good ol' chapter 2.**

Chapter 2: Not Another Day 

Sophie suddenly spotted a large stick poking out of the ground, halfway to Mrs. Fairfax's. "Oh, I bet Mrs. Fairfax would just love to have such a good looking walking stick." Walking swiftly to it, she reached out and pulled softly, but the stick didn't budge.

She pulled harder, but it wouldn't come out. Finally, she whispered to it, "Get out of there, you piece of firewood!" and it came flying out.

Sophie was so surprised by the stick's sudden cooperation that she fell straight down onto her butt.

Getting up slowly, as she rubbed her rear, she looked around, and couldn't see the stick anywhere. Then she heard an odd thumping noise. Turning around quickly, she nearly fainted as she saw a scarecrow attached to the stick she had been pulling. That in itself didn't scare her. What scared her was that it was hopping up and down behind her, as if it was impatient.

Deciding that fainting would in fact _not_ help her, she laughed softly to her self and said, "Well, I'm sure _you_ do a great job scaring off birds. I have to go now. Bye."

She began walking again, and then noticed that the thumping was continuing at a faster pace. Realizing that she had started out later than she had thought, she sighed. "Oh well." Always the sensible (except for with herself) thinker, she turned back to the hopefully sentient scarecrow, and said clearly and slowly, "I need shelter. Do you know what that is?" The thing gave a positive jump. "Okay, could you find me some? Do you know a good shelter close to here?" It turned off the road, and began jumping as fast as it could to the left.

Sophie shrugged, wondering if that hop had been positive or not. Deciding that stopping wouldn't make her life easier, and having the odd feeling that the thing would find her no matter what, she began walking slowly, almost sauntering, again in the direction of Mrs. Fairfax's.

-+-+-+-

The sun was mostly set, and there was still no sign of the scarecrow. Sophie started muttering to herself about manners, but stopped as she heard a soft sound behind her.

She turned around and called out, "Hello? Is anybody ther-," but something jumped out from behind her, and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards it.

Then a gruff voice whispered in her ear, carrying with it the scent of bad ale, "Wanna come back ter me house, lil' gray mouse? I'll give yer some good cheese."

"Um, no. That's okay. Let go."

"Ah, no. I'm havin' to much fun."

"No really! Let go! I was just going to meet my-,"

"-Sweetheart," came a voice from the left.

"Huh?" both of them said.

Slowly, a handsome young man, with billowing sleeves, a white puffy shirt with lace at the half unbuttoned cut at the chest, a teardrop-shaped dark blue crystal on a translucent gold chain, and colorful poofy pants, stepped into view.

"Honey, we really need to be going. Our carriage is waiting a little ways back. Here. "The odd, but entrancing, young man threw a small bag lined with silver at the burly man. "For making sure she stayed safe. You know how dangerous it is these days, with drunks wandering about."

The burly man next to Sophie seemed about to retort, or attack, but then noticed the weight and jingle of the purse. "Oh, thank you sir, "he said, shaking off the slur and standing a little bit straighter, though still swaying slightly. "I just couldn't let her walk around alone now could I? But, since you're here now, I guess I'll just be going…." And he ran off as fast as he could, though failing to do so in a straight line.

"Come along." The man took up her arm and began to walk nonchalantly down the road, with Sophie following obediently, to shocked to protest.

After a couple minutes, just as Sophie had plucked up the courage to ask who this man was, he said softly, "We're being followed."

Sophie automatically started to turn around, but was prevented by the man tightening his grip. "Act natural," was all he said.

With an increasing sense of foreboding, Sophie did as she was bid, and walked with him. Then came a sickly squishy sound from in front of them, and black things began to ooze out ahead of them on the road.

Sophie also heard he same sound from behind, and could see more coming from both sides. She got more and more apprehensive, and began clutching the man's shirt.

"Hold tight," he said happily.

The things converged on them, wasting no time and coming faster then humanly possible. Sophie shut her eyes and braced herself for the impact against the man's chest. But suddenly, her feet weren't touching the ground.

Opening her eyes wide in dismay, she looked down to find a medium black blob undulating on the ground. Then she realized that those were the things, and she was at least 200 feet in the air, only being held in the air by the man as he seemingly walked nonchalantly through the air, drifting quickly downwards.

"You know, it would be easier if you helped me walk."

"What?" said Sophie, startled out of her reverie.

He repeated what he had said, and Sophie blushed and hesitantly began to walk. She was beyond surprised when her foot hit almost solid ground. Taking another step in time with the man this time, she couldn't figure out what was partially holding them aloft. It felt like she was stepping on wet sand, the surface giving way slightly to let her foot sink in, but still solid enough to give a good footing.

Then she noticed that the world directly beneath her looked blurry. After thanking the fact that she wasn't in the least amount afraid of heights, she realized what was holding them.

Magic.

It all made sense now. The things were sent by magic to capture this man, and he had escaped using magic. The air seemed blurry because of some spell used to hold them.

"Who are you?" she exclaimed, now thoroughly frightened, for the only wizard living anywhere around her village was the horrible Wizard Howl, when he passed through, the one that ate the hearts of all pretty girls. _On second thought_, said Sophie to herself,_ that makes me completely safe. He only takes pretty girls. At least it wasn't M_

Howl laughed. "Judging from the terrified look on your face, you just realized who I am. Yes," he said with as much of a flourish as he could muster while in midair, "I am the fearsome wizard Howl, destroyer of souls, and eater of hearts. Not a pretty girl safe in my grasp, and not a single man hears my name without a tremble. All shall-," but he cut off as Sophie buried her face in his shirt to smother her giggles. "What?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh, it's just that you put such an air of bravado," she laughed.

"I'll have you know that I myself am quiet fearsome. Entire armies have cried out before me!" he said, now blushing himself. "Why aren't you fearing me? Surely you've heard the tales of my wicked ways."

"Well, you just saved me from those gooey black things…."

"But they were sent to capture me! Maybe by the King and Wizard Sullivan! In fact, I could very well have sent them myself. I could have used them as a mask to warm you up to me." Howl was quickly swelling with indignation.

"And why would you do that? You only take pretty girls, right?"

Howl gave her a fleeting glance, unnoticed by Sophie, and opened his mouth and took a breath as if about to say something, but thought for a second, and decided against it. No need to make her presumptuous.

"Well in that case," he said easily, "you must be my new cleaning lady. Ol' turnip head wouldn't have brought me to you for no reason. I'm sure he's seen plenty of bad things, so it couldn't have just been to save you from a common drunk."

"Turnip head?"

"That living scarecrow." Then, under his breath, he added, "He's under a nasty curse, that one…"

"Then why don't you break it?"

Howl shook his head a little sadly. "Unfortunately, I can't. The whole point of the curse he's under is for somebody to find him, or he them. Only they can break the curse."

"Did you put it on him?"

"Alas, no. I cannot claim that piece of work."

They continued on in silence for a couple minutes, until Sophie realized she didn't recognize the landscape they were in at all. Now a little worried, Sophie said, "Um, Howl? Where are we going?"

Howl seemed bemused. "Tsk, tsk. Sophie, you really need to listen better. I told you that you're my new cleaning lady. Where do you think we're going? Where could we be going other than my castle?"

Sophie was alarmed, for she really hadn't been listening to him until he said turnip head. "Cleaning lady? I'm not a maid, I will not…" but she trailed of as she realized that she was almost a maid, and would probably amount to nothing better. Instead, she said rather lamely, "I was going to see my sister. I didn't ask you to abduct me."

Howl laughed. "Oh yes, I'll set you down right here, and remember next time I see you accosted that that's your idea of a good past time. Besides, I can't let you go, I couldn't even if it were daylight with _true_ officers around, not these idiotic city guards that would be more likely to help 'abduct you' than to stop it."

Sophie had to agree with him on the guards, but this still didn't truly explain anything. "Why couldn't you let me down?"

Howl replied a little sternly, "Because those monsters were almost definitely sent from that old tramp, the Waste of a Witch." Sophie shivered a little at the casual way he insulted the most wicked and powerful witch of the time, only barely held off by Wizard Suliman. "They saw you, and almost definitely reported to her by now. I'm sorry, but you're involved now, and I can't let you make anyone else be. Besides, do you really want to bring disaster down upon your sister?"

They landed softly in a field filled with thick, opaque fog. "Fine, I guess your right," Sophie said grudgingly.

"Good," said Howl happily. "Well, here we are."

Sophie stared at him. "What do you mean? There's nothing there."

Howl sighed, and called out in an irritated voice, "It's okay Calcifer, she's with us. You can let her see."

A flame seemed to flame brightly in response, and a low rumbling reached Sophie's ears. It grew louder and louder, until the fog seemed to lose it's density, and Sophie was able to pick out a faint outline. Then, all at once and startlingly, the sound rose to a crescendo, and the castle came into full view.

It was the oddest castle Sophie had ever seen. The two turrets seemed to form eyes, a large wooden blob seemed to form a working mouth, for it opened and closed like a clam with odd scraps of metal as teeth. The body was odd assortment of balconies, and pieces of houses, making it seem like an artist had taken ideas from different architectures and thrown them around randomly to form a turtle like shell. Strings snaked their way from balcony to balcony, swaying in the wind, with clothes pinned to them with moldy clothe pins. A tall and spindly smokestack wandered around the roof, puffing a steady stream of black and dark blue smoke.

The four legs were the strangest. They were made from some type of metal, and swung haphazardly under the weight of the castle, and Sophie was unable to understand how they supported it and still managed to move at a rapid place. It was no castle like Sophie had ever, not that she got out enough to see many.

It was a wizard castle.

Howl walked her up to the front of it, and the thing lumbered to a stop, and came down agonizingly slowly. When the dust had finally settled from the impact of the castle, the door creaked open, and the two stepped in.

**Well, there's chapter two. It's longer than the last one, but still not as long as would have liked it. At least I got over 2000 words in this! O WHOOT!**

**Tell me what you think, and I don't mind criticism as long as you do it a way that helps me.**

**Love ya, toodles, and I'll see you next time, in chapter 3!**


	3. An Unexpected Family

**Disclaimer: My life is not mine, take it.**

"Calcifer! Who's that?" cried a little boy, standing next to a small, oddly colored fire.

"I don't know," the fire replied reproachfully. "Our Majesty over there neglected to tell me what poor sap followed him home.

Sophie started to have a heart attack, but then remembered that she was in a wizard's house. No, not just a wizard's house, but Wizard Howl's house. Who knew what kind of evil things lurked about in this house? It was probably a demon of some sort.

Deciding that the fire had indeed called her a poor sap, she got a little indignant. "Excuse me? I'm not 'some poor sap'! Your evil wizard over here abducted me!"

The boy laughed. "Evil? Howl's not evil. He's about as evil as, well, um…" The boy was obviously having some trouble finding a good example as the house was dark, dirty, and imposing, and he was standing next to what was most likely a fire demon, the worst kind of demon as far as Sophie knew.

"Oh, but I am evil, Markel. You don't seem to realize just how evil I'm being right now. I've just indentured this nice young woman into our service as a maid by saving her life. What could be worse? I just forced her to live with _us_."

Howl turned towards the cabinet next to the fire. "I think it's time for some dinner. What do you want, Markel? Eggs, bacon, roast?"

"Ohh, do you have some of that wonderful cake from Lettie? I had some of that the other day and it was sooooo-," the boy apparently named Markel was cut off before he had the chance to ramble on.

"Yes, I have some, and no, you can't have any until after dinner. Although, you can eat it all after dinner if you want."

Markel rolled his eyes and leaned towards the crackling demon. "Sounds like somebody wants an excuse to go back to Lettie."

Sophie felt a wave of dread at hearing this. Was Lettie Howl's next target? Was he going to eat her heart? Always the thinker, Sophie just filed the information away. She couldn't stop him now, but maybe later, or maybe she could warn Lettie somehow.

She was startled out of her reverie by the sound of Howl's voice. "Wha?"

Howl smiled patiently. "I asked what you wanted for dinner."

"Oh," said Sophie, a little startled that he would ask her that, and disarmed by his charming smile. "Um, eggs and bacon, and some toast if you have it."

"Yup. Eggs, bacon, toast, and cake it is!" Howl brought out a dark burnt frying pan, with stains covering it.

Sophie thought for a second, and then sighed. "You know, if I'm going to be your new maid, then I'm going to have to get used to making your meals and doing the work. Here, hand over that pan."

Howl just smiled as he handed her the pan, and swiftly sidestepped her as she went over to the talking fire.

Markel started to stop her. "Wait! Only Howl can-," but Howl laid a silencing hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

Sophie ignored the concerned boy, and came to a stop in front of the cabinet. She squatted down and opened the cabinet. Scrunching up her nose at the smells, and dust, and cobwebs, and moldy looking breads, and the disorganization, and…. Sighing, Sophie began sifting through the junk and extracting the needed foods that seemed to be mostly edible.

She then proceeded to walk over to the sentient fire and started to put the pan down, but the flame jumped up at her and started spitting and hissing. "I only bend my head for Howl." Then in a smaller, whiny tone, "I will not be exploited."

Sophie looked at him for a moment, and then she got an idea. Bending down, she looked him in the flickering eye, and said quietly, "Look, it seems to me that you're _already _being exploited. I don't think such a handsome and powerful demon should be locked down and forced to do such mundane tasks." She was taking a shot in the dark, only judging by what she half-felt herself, and what she hoped he felt.

Apparently, she had struck her mark, for the demon's supposed chest swelled and he looked at her appraisingly.

She continued, "Well, seeing as I'm going to be around here awhile, maybe I can help you. You do what I want; I help you. Got it?" The flame nodded slowly. "What do you want?"

The demon's eyes glanced quickly at Howl. "To be free. I'm not here of my own consent anymore."

Sophie grinned, though it looked sinister with the only light coming from the jumpy fire. "You do what I want, then I'll do all I can to free you."

Sighing reluctantly, the demon gave in. "Fine, but you better take good care of me. And feed me the leftovers of the meals!" With that the proud demon once again bent its head for a mortal.

Feeling like this had more weight than she realized, she plopped the pan on the demon, cracked open the eggs, attempted to calm the goose-bumps on her arms, and ignored the astonished stare from Markel.

Howl grinned as if in triumph, and said to Markel, "Get out the plates, and after dinner I'll help you with that spell you've been having trouble with."

Markel's face lit up, and he jumped to the task.

As the bacon sizzled on the frying pan, Sophie tried to search the food cabinet, hoping and fearing to find a packet labeled 'powdered heart' or a jar with a pickled heart waiting for use. All she found other than half-rotten foods was spiders, webs, cobwebs, and rats galore.

Finally giving up until she had more time for a thorough inspection, she took the pan of the demon and passed the foods out. Markel ate his with gusto, and smacked his lips. "This is great! Much better than Howl's! He always burns it," he said, slightly conspiratorially.

Howl let out another of his chiming laughs. "If it wasn't for me, you'd still be an urchin, and wouldn't ever have warm food."

"I didn't ask for food that was half on fire and half-maggots though," Markel said good-naturedly, for they were just kidding. For some reason, Sophie felt as if this was more of a family than she and hers was. It was light-hearted banter from the older brother to the little brother, not even a little tension seeming to rise between them. In her house, it had always been business.

Unsure whether to be happy, humored, or depressed, she sat down slightly dejectedly, and picked at her own serving.

"What's wrong?"

Again startled out of yet another reverie, she jumped slightly and looked around for the intruder of her thoughts.

Too find the apprentice of the most evil living wizard looking at her in concern.

"What?" she said, a little thrown off.

"I said what's wrong. As Howl would say, 'You look a little down in the celestial dumps.'"

Sophie blinked.

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Markel elaborated once again. "You look unhappy and like your thinking about something not entirely pleasant. What is it?"

"Just thinking."

Obviously not having lost that childhood innocence, Markel questioned, "What is it? Are you uncomfortable or something, being around us? Howl isn't actually evil, he made those stories up to keep people away."

"Why would he want to keep people away?"

"For peace." They both looked over at Howl, who apparently was not going to let them talk over his head any longer. "I'm pursued, as you both already know, by the Witch of the Waste, but also by Government Magicians. They wish to enlist me in the war, which I have no intent to do. I fight my own battles for my own cause."

Then he gave a decisive clap, and threw on that smile again. "Enough of these unhappy matters, let's get down to business Markel. Sophie, you can finish your dinner, and make up your bed for the night. I left a small pile of blankets on the table by the door, and you can use the cubbyhole in the wall until we can get more suitable accommodations for you. We need a change of scenery anyway."

Sophie didn't have the remotest idea what he meant, but apparently Markel did, for he let out a squeal and cheered. "YAY! You mean we're gonna get a new door? We should get that one at the old hat shop, the one that's for sale!"

"About time!" Sophie jumped, and looked around.

"You were unusually quiet, Calcifer, throughout that entire meal," said Howl. "Not a single derisive comment or disruptive and rather noise."

"Yeah, I feel kind of mellow now. I doubt you like this anymore than I do." Calcifer had glanced at Sophie during this, but she didn't understand why.

Markel rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's got that move started!"

Howl raised an eyebrow. "Settle down, Markel. We still need to buy that hat shop, and make out the propers1. I was planning to do it in about three days."

Markel blushed and started to sit don, but jumped again. "So? You still promised to give me lessons. Come on!"

"Darn it! I was hoping you had forgotten. Well, let's get started. I think you said you had trouble on the Vescile Riddle?" He pulled out a sheaf of paper as Markel nodded. "Well, let's start with the…"

As they discussed the wizarding arts, Sophie started to get herself situated.

1 This is their term for drawing the diagrams for the move.

**Well, there's the chapter.**


	4. Spells and Hells

**I'm such a bad updater…. Please don't kill me…**

**Disclaimer: Oh, you're funny. No really, you're making me laugh. Why don't you just cut me to add to the comedy?**

-+-+-+-

Howl sighed. He took one last glance at the young woman sleeping peacefully in the small dugout hole in the side of the wall, and Calcifer looked at him, a little sympathetically.

"This'll be a tough one. No prophecy book is going to help you foresee this one's outcome. Go get some sleep." Calcifer let the candles stationed around Howl's living room desk blow out, and Howl went upstairs.

-+-+-+-

Sophie scrunched her eyes a little as sunlight hit them. _Just ten more minutes, and then I'll get up and start the hat shop,_ she thought, but she knew that it was futile.

She put her arms over her head, and stretched her muscles, making her legs and arms feel taut, and wonderfully fresh. That was unusual as she had a most uncomfortable bed in her small room. Also, the blankets covering her were much softer and not at all scratchy or drafty.

Sophie's mind was still to tired to figure out the reason for this, so she was quite startled when a young man's voice rang out from behind her.

"Glad to see you're awake. Have a nice sleep?"

Sophie shot up, clutching the blanket around her. "Wha… Wha…," but the events of the night before finally swarmed back, leaving her a little less flustered, but more squirmish.

"Would you like to complete that thought, or should I draw my own conclusions?" smirked Howl, obviously amused.

Sophie sighed and let the blanket drop, then froze. She had forgotten that she had stripped to her white shift before she went to sleep, and while it still covered her from ankle to wrist to neck, it fit very tightly. Quite indecent. Grabbing up the blanket again, she scowled at the wizard who was now barely containing his laughter.

"I was going to say, 'What's for breakfast,' but now I say, get out and give me some privacy so I can dress."

Howl held up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay. No problem. I made you a dress. Why don't you try it on? It's not much, but I had to do it quickly." He gestured to a small box as he left the room.

Sophie stayed still a moment longer, trying to adjust to the new place, and gave up. She got up and picked the lid off the box resignedly.

As she held up the dress for inspection, she was quite flabbergasted. The materiel felt a little like silk, but flowed between her fingertips like water. It was a light, misty blue, matching her eyes perfectly, with little red roses embroidered where there would normally be seams. It had a few small, but perfectly placed, frills on the cut-in at the chest and bottom. It caught the light and glittered magnificently.

Slowly, almost reverently, she slipped into the dress, wondering at the quality of the materiel. It fit her closely, except at the waist and below were it billowed out, but gave her a complete freedom of movement, not restricting her at all, feeling like a second skin. It also felt warm and cool at the same time, as if she could go out on the coldest winter night at midnight, or venture out for a game of Kattry at the courts and not be affected by the weather in the least, without any furs or other forms of protection.

She called out to Howl that she was decent. He swept into the room, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her. The sunlight streaming in from the window he had installed the night before glowed on her, almost seeming as if she was the one emitting the light, not the light shining on her. The dress accented her perfectly, and she was easily the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, and that included his experiences in mythical beasts, for she surpassed even the most graceful unicorn.

Sophie looked at him oddly, wondering why his eyes ere so big, and why his mouth was moving but no noise was coming out. "Howl?" Why did he look like he might drool?!?

Howl shook himself. "Huh? Oh, um… nothing. In response to your earlier question, breakfast is up to you. I'm sure you're a much better cook than I am."

Shrugging, Sophie walked over to the food pantry and began sorting through it for a good assortment of food for breakfast.

She had just gotten out the last spice when Markl came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Wha's goin' on?" said Markl with some difficulty.

"Well, Sophie is about to prepare us a REAL meal, and then I'm going to check over the Viscile riddle to see if you did it right."

"Uch," responded Markl, with more enthusiasm than Sophie expected, meaning negative 3 on a 1 to 10 scale.

She set the food on the stove, aka Calcifer, and walked off to her cubby to fix her makeshift bed.

Markl suddenly seemed to wake up. "HUH! Oh, what is that smell? Is it already May Day?? Come on Howl, we gotta go! We're gonna miss the first cuts of the feast!"

Howl laughed. "Its just breakfast, Markl. Really, I didn't realize that I was such a bad cook that you would think that anyone else's cooking was May Day food. Still, I did know that Sophie had to have been a better cook than me."

Sophie didn't even hear what he said. She suddenly thought about the situation she was in. She realized that she had consented to work for a heart-eating wizard, and his devil and apprentice. What had she been thinking???

Then again, she remembered what the wizard had said on their ride over here. She couldn't go back. She would bring disaster down on her family and few friends because the Witch of the Waste wanted her.

But she could run away…. Yes, tonight, when Howl went up for his bath and Markl went to work on some devilish spell or another, she could run out the back, run far, maybe to the waste…. If the Witch there wanted Howl, probably to hurt him, maybe she wasn't so bad….

"Sophie!"

Someone was shaking her shoulders, yelling her name.

"Howl, what's wrong with Sophie?"

"MOVE!" Suddenly something wrenched the thing shaking her away. She felt a shadow move across her, and tried to bolt. Arms grabbed her, and she flailed around, screaming.

Another voice boomed, this one sounding from the fireplace. "SHE'S BEEN TOUCHED BY A SPELL OF THE WITCH'S!!! IT'S STRONG!!! IT'S DEFEATING THE WARDS!!!"

"SOPHIE!!! Listen to me, you need to stop, STOP!" She bit down, but the thing didn't loosen its hold. "RAK'KAN!" She felt suddenly calm, as if time had frozen around her and she was in a safe place. She opened her eyes and blurrily saw the outline of someone standing over her.

"Sophie, the Witch of the Waste cast a spell on you. She will kill us all! You need to settle down, and listen to me. I will not hurt you. I send out the evil rumors about myself out, only for protection. I can't let anyone get close to me. I want to, but I can't. That's why people think I'm evil. Please, you need to settle down. Is that the reason you wanted to go? Because you think I'm evil?"

She nodded, noticing that the presence over her really wasn't dark or foreboding, but comforting. "Think back to what you felt. Think back to where you felt it. Can you feel it?" She nodded again, for she seemed to feel something dark and cold wrapped around her mind.

"Reject it. You can make it leave. We aren't bad; we're here to help. It's the Witch of the Waste that is bad. You can push her out. She's trying to hurt you, Markl, Calcifer, me, and your family. You have to push her away!" The voice, calming and urgent at the same time, seemed to be fading, as if slowly being pushed away.

She squinted her eyes, attempting to get a grasp on whatever was covering her mind like a veil, but suddenly felt immensely tired, almost like she head just run one of the Grand Frey marathons like her mother had. Her limbs seemed to be made out of lead, becoming heavier and harder to move.

She was exhausted, and wanted to just lie down, just go to sleep and not ever wake up… just… sleep…

"SOPHIE!!! YOU'RE SISTERS NEED YOU!!!"

Sophie bolted upwards, shocking the presence from her mind in one swift move, and looked about wildly.

"Where are they?? Please tell me quickly, I have to find them!" Her words came out in a nasty crackly sound, but Sophie was too worried to truly notice it.

Howl was staring at her, gaping like a fish, and Sophie didn't know why, nor cared. "TELL ME!!!"

Howl straightened, a look of consternation still on his face. "Sophie, there is no trouble with your sisters, I merely used them to give you a reason to fight the Witch. Now, you have to turn around and look in the mirror behind you, the spell still had an effect on you."

His voice was slow and soothing, and Sophie turned, still a little bit frightened, but mostly angry at Howl, and still not fully understanding where she was, or what was happening.

"Who's that?" Sophie asked, dismayed at the sight of an old, small, portly lady staring back at. Even odder was the fact the lady was wearing the same dress as her…

"You."

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**Ok guys, I had to leave the cliffy here. Now I will say a few words about my unacceptable absence.**

**I'M SORRY! I am a horrible person, who kept you waiting far too long due to an exaggerated writer's block, and hope that at least some of you have not given up on me entirely. I had to read my whole story again in order to get into the right mindset to continue writing, and it was still hard to add the last eight inches to my already mostly completed chapter.**

**Thanks to Rhea Riley, seethingkitsune, Barley47, tsuki the moon, Faerie Wind (rereading your review was actually the thing that made me continue writing this), LynGreenTea, lilsteves, Purple Empress, o-aki-hoshi, Amethyst Grey, Ferret Love, and miko-demokags for the reviews.**

**Finally, I would like to say: I LIVE!!!!!!!!**


	5. Unknown Magyks

**All you lovely people out there… I love you all…**

**Disclaimer: Pink bunnies don't eat human flesh… usually…**

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"Wha-wha-wha…." Sophie was surprised to register that Markl was the one making the incoherent noises, not herself. "Sophie! You're old!" Turning to Howl, he demanded, "What happened to her?"

"Hmmm… I believe it's a very tricky spell, called the Rifters' Time, but I just call it the Speed-Up-Time spell. Basically, Sophie came into the castle already touched by the spell, which was dormant, waiting for specific circumstances to trigger.

"Once those circumstances arrived, the spell activated, and effected the thing or things that the spell was programmed to effect." Howl looked around expectantly, but to his disappointment saw, instead of a captivated audience, saw Markl staring at him, still not understanding, and Sophie running her hands over her face, seemingly traumatized.

"Well?"

Howl looked at Markl. "Well what?"

Markl huffed angrily. "Well what was it supposed to effect?!"

"Well, seeing as Sophie managed to banish most of the traces, I can't be sure, but based on the results, I can make a few inferences." Sophie was still obviously not listening at all, and Markl was nonplussed, not understanding a word that had come from Howl's mouth.

Howl sighed. "Sophie killed most of the spell, but I can guess what it was supposed to do from the way it effected her and us." Markl's face brightened. "What I could tell from the beginning was that it was not only meant to effect her, but also myself and the rest of the castle. Markl, did you feel anything odd as Sophie was be taken by the spell?"

"Well, it seemed to get hard to move, and I felt really tired."

"That's what I thought. It was probably meant to effect anything within a certain distance from, which meant you, the castle, and, what I'm sure the Witch was aiming for, me. It took a hold of us all, and sped time up around us, making us age rapidly. Basically, within a few moments, we'd all be dust."

"What do you mean it effected the castle?"

"Well, I'm sure it sought out one of the major hotspots of magic in the castle, Calcifer, which helped it to weaken the wards enough to begin to work on the castle." Howl smiled reassuringly at the nodding Calcifer, who seemed to be a bit pale and sickly for a demon.

"It would have sped up time on the castle, as it did on us, and crumbled it. However, it wouldn't have actually done anything to the buildings the door here connects to, because the castle actually exists outside of time.

"Only the door links it to the buildings, and the connections seems to have been to slippery for the spell to get a hold on, considering we still have all our colors intact on the door." Howl finished the statement as he gestured down towards the door.

"But what does that mean for Sophie?" asked Markl, more concerned than curious again.

"Well, the spell certainly didn't go out without putting up a good fight, so Sophie had some side-effects, as her body was not able to heal as quickly as her mind. However, with a little-"

But was cut-off as Markl suddenly exclaimed, "Sophie! Where'd she go?"

Howl straightened and looked about quickly. "Markl, go up to your room. I think the spell might have more in it than I thought."

"But-"

"Go!" Markl hurried away when he heard the stern don't-mess-with-me voice.

Taking another quick look around, this time after making a quick Rune in the air used to enhance the senses, and immediately noticed the fact that the door leading to the backyard garden was not fully latched shut. Hurrying out, but not before checking the door for any traps, as he had once again been reminded of the need for caution, he stopped dead with the sight before him.

Sophie was sitting in the grass, streaks down her face giving evidence to the fact that she had been crying. But she wasn't crying now, instead she stared at her hand confusedly, and slightly frightened.

From the wrist up, it was not wrinkled and invaded with liver spots like it's twin, but rather young and dainty, as it had been before Sophie had been rudely attacked by the spell.

Howl made a small cough, alerting Sophie to his presence, making her jump up and look at him through a pair of eyes that seemed to not know whether to cry or scream.

"What happened?" Howl asked, speaking in a slow, soft voice, like one he would use with a very distressed child.

"I-I don't know. I came out here… after a little while… while you and M-Markl were still talking, and just stared at my hand. I just remember not believing, telling my hand over and over again to turn back again, and to stop tricking me. Then… it did."

Howl just watched, careful to keep his expression neutral, but in reality his mind was working at speed equivalent to running with Hundred-League boots. What Sophie was saying sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember what... Suddenly it struck him.

Squatting down swiftly, and ignoring the small flinch from the on-the-edge Sophie, he said quietly, "Do you remembering anything like that happening before? It doesn't even have to be something about you, maybe you told something, like a hat, something, and it came true. Anything like that?"

Sophie had a pondering look on her face, apparently having somewhat forgotten about her rather unfortunate predicament. She responded slowly, "Well... I once told a hat I was working on that… I think I said it would be the best hat I've ever made and that whoever wore it would marry the Duke. Then this poor, generally known as ugly, or at least very plain, girl bought. The next day, she was off to marry the Duke, whom she'd met at the May Day dancing."

As she talked, she grew more sure of herself, once again showing her natural resilience, although Howl knew it couldn't last.

"What does it mean?"

Howl looked at her and sighed, unsure of himself. "Well, I've heard of something like this before, but I can't quite remember what it was. I'm going to go look for anything like this, and you're free to do anything you want, just don't attempt to change anything else back. This could be another trick from the Horibble Hag, after all."

Sophie nodded, and watched Howl leave. Then she looked at her hands, watching a young, soft hand seemingly mock her other, shivering hand, old, creased, and leathery. Again, her place as the third child reared its ugly head.

She got, a few tears still leaking out of her eyes. She couldn't understand why this sort of thing always happened to her, but at least she could take solace in the fact that her sisters would likely never experience anything like what she was. A wizard whom was neither evil nor good, a child appretice whose heart and naivety knew no bounds, and a demon whose melevolance was belied by a the child -like way it acted at times, al residing under a huge, impossible structure of magic. And her, a young unlucky girl, forced into service and changed into a hag.

Life always surprised her. But what surprised her more was hearing Markl scream from inside the house.

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**Oh my god, I deserve to be thrown into a tub of rabid monkeys... I'm so sorry guys, but things didn't work out the way I expected so I could only get out this short chapter, and it's a week late.**

**What happened was I expected to be able to type at my Grandmother's house, where I went to for Thanksgiving. The first day there, I literally typed this chapter in one sitting. however, before I could post it, we left for a small trip to New York (we rode the bus the whole way there... yayyy... cough cough gag...). Then I wasn't allowed to go on the computer 'til I came back home, because we were out all day.**

**So I got home, and my sister remembers the huge power point thing she has to make on the computer for school, so guess who hasn't been able to go on the computer until today? If you said Mickey Mouse, you're wrong.**

**Hope you liked the chapter (I didn't), see you in the reviews! (At least I better...)**


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